Frequently Asked Questions – Michael W Lucas

Here are the most common discussions I have with readers.

Your Opinions About My Books / Future Books /Buying Books /Writing Tools / Writing / Publishing Business / Book Rights /Technology / Work and Money / Meatspace

Your Opinions About My Books

1. You: You write good stuff.
  Me: Thank you, I appreciate it. That’s always nice to hear. It’s awesome to know that my work helps other people. That thought keeps me going.
2. You: You write awful stuff.
  Me: That’s fine. Books are about taste, and you’re not my reader. Try another writer.
3. You: No, really, your books are awful. Stop writing.
  (rolls eyes, knocks you to ground, commits assorted random violences upon your meatsuit. Or, if we’re online, blocks you.)
4. You: I want to put one of your books one my “Best Of The Hour/Day/Week/Month/Year/Decade/Aeon” list!
5. You: I want to nominate one of your books for an award or prize!
6. You: You should enter this writing contest!
7. You: Please join our Matrix/Telegram/Slack/IRC/whatever!
  Me: Thank you, but I already have more chats than I can keep up with.
8. You: I have thoughts about one of your books! SO MUCH THOUGHTS!
  Me: Cool! Don’t tell them to me. Tell other people.Seriously, I’m glad I made you think. Telling any author your thoughts about their book is not only unhelpful, it actively harms the writer. Random feedback nourishes our systemic infections of doubt and arrogance. Both are terminal. Senior authors have learned to let such things pass harmlessly through their ears without involving their brain. I’m not there yet.
  
  But authors do want you to talk about books! To other people. Write reviews, positive or negative, and post them on bookstore sites and social media. Tell people about this great Lucas book you read, the Lucas tech book that changed your career, or this hideous Lucas book you attempted to hate-read. These discussions simultaneously bring us great joy and new readers. Great joy is cool. New readers are cooler.
Future Books
1. You: When will your revise your tech book X?
  Me: When the technology changes enough, when I have sufficient time and attention, and when the business environment permits.
2. You: When is your next Y novel coming out?
  Me: As soon as I write it.
3. You: Any chance of an Absolute OpenBSD 3rd Edition?
  Me: See above. AO3e requires a specific business environment. You’ll know it’s coming when I publish several small OpenBSD books in succession, much as I did with the FreeBSD Mastery books and AF3e.
4. You: What are you writing now?
  Me: Check my main page for my current projects.
5. You: Will you write something on topic Z?
  Me: Probably not.
Buying Books
2. You: How can I buy your books to put the most money in your pocket?
  Me: Thank you for asking. That’s a hard question, so let me start with the short answer: I appreciate that you’re buying my books and helping me buy groceries, rather than scamming illicit copies off dodgy web sites. Anywhere you buy is good enough; if it wasn’t, I wouldn’t sell my books there. (That’s why new Mastery tech books will not be on Amazon’s Kindle store as of 2023. I’ll sell Kindle editions elsewhere.) And truly, that’s all I ask. But if you’re looking to send me extra money, here’s a decision tree based on format and publisher.
  - If I’m running one of my intermittent direct print sales, that’s the best place. It’ll be on the front page of my bookstore.
  - My print bookstore makes me the most, but you have to pay for shipping so it’s more expensive for you.
  - Serves the US, UK, and Spain.
  - “Absolute” books, Network Flow Analysis, and other No Starch Press titles – use the coupon code ILUVMICHAEL and buy direct from No Starch Press. You get 30% off and I get commission. You pay shipping, though, which eats up the cost savings if you’re in New Zealand.
  - Mastery and fiction ebooks – buy direct from me at tiltedwindmillpress.com.
  - If you want to give me money – I have a regular Patreon, a personal Patronizer system that’s just like Patreon except it all comes directly to me, and a tip jar that goes towards supporting my pet rats.
  - What I really ask for – that you buy the books from a channel that pays me for them. If you tell others you liked them, that’s gravy.
3. You: How can I get a signed book?
  Me: I’m almost always at Penguicon and BSDCan. Occasionally I offer book sponsorships. While that does not guarantee you’ll get the book you’re sponsoring, if it happens to be a book I’ll sign it. Or you can hang around the Roseville, Michigan Costco for a couple weeks; I’ll probably show up.
4. You: Can we buy print books from you?
  Me: Yes. I have a print bookstore via Bookshop.org.
1. You: Can I get a print/ebook combo of your Tilted Windmill Press books?
  Me: Occasionally I run a preorder sale on such combos at my e-bookstore. I’m watching for any of several possible solutions to become viable to make such bundles continuously available.
2. You: Can I get a print/ebook combo of your No Starch Press books?
  Me: Direct from No Starch Press! They ship from the US, though, so the cost in other countries might be prohibitive. Use code ILUVMICHAEL to get a 30% discount.
3. You: Why does your store deliver via Bookfunnel? Why not just use direct download links?
  Me: Ease of management, ease of re-downloading, and to help you load books on your device.
Writing Tools
1. You: What tools do you use to write?
  Me: Microsoft Word.
2. You: How do you produce your ebooks and print books?
  Me: For print, I always use InDesign. (Vellum produces pretty print books, but it’s a poor choice if you write short chapters and must constrain page count.)I format highly structured nonfiction ebooks with Calibre. For fiction and low-structure nonfiction I use Vellum. My main desktop runs whatever I’m writing about, OpenBSD at the moment. I use Windows for InDesign and Microsoft Office.
3. You: “Microsoft? InDesign?” Really?
  Me: Yep. Many publishers, publishing tools, and self-pub platforms expect bug-for-bug compatibility with Microsoft Word. While LibreOffice is good enough for novels, using a product other than Word for complex documents gives iffy results. Can LibreOffice produce a nice looking ebook? Sure. Can LibreOffice produce a nice looking book that survives going through dozens of different ebook retailers in dozens of countries, many of them using back-end software that expects to see Microsoft-specific gunk somewhere in the file? Not reliably. And a 1% error rate means that I spend hours of my time troubleshooting an ebook problem that only shows up in one title for readers in Farawayistan. And then some other retailer changes their back end, and I do it all again. Worse, it’s work that I’m not interested in and don’t want to do.
  
  If some fourth-hand POD printer running firmware that hasn’t been updated since 2012 has a problem with my book, IngramSpark pulls that book globally until I fix the problem. They provide zero debugging information, printing locations, or other details.
  
  “Valid PDF” is not the goal. The goal is “valid PDF that exactly conforms to that produced by Adobe and MS.”
  
  Some people pull this off. They sell in fewer countries than I do, or have simpler books. Lots of people manage with novels, but not with tables and code and footnotes and everything my books need.
  
  With every title I publish, that risk increases. As of 2022, I self-published 69 titles in print and/or ebook. That’s a whole different scale than the folks with only a handful of titles or who only sell in a subset of stores.
  
  Bug-for-bug compatibility with MS Word and InDesign is essential. I wish it wasn’t. But the business reality is, LibreOffice gets me reader complaints. Word doesn’t. LaTeX gives me interoperability problems. InDesign doesn’t. I am testing Affinity as a replacement for Adobe, as they focus on bug-for-bug compatibility, but am not yet convinced.
4. You: But LibreOffice/LaTeX/other free solution!
  Me: Look. I have been sending my work into the world since 1991. I know this business and the technology. Do you think I like being stuck in Microsoft-Adobe Hell? And you know what makes it worse, is some random dude (because it’s always a man, always) on the Internet telling me I’m wrong. It’s like going up to one of the OpenBSD folks and questioning their commitment to software security.I use BSD as a desktop. No, not TrueOS, not macOS. Raw OpenBSD or FreeBSD. My text editor is either emacs or ed. I can make LaTeX and LibreOffice work just fine. Other parts of this industry can’t work with them.
  
  If you’re still going “But–but–but:” I am done being civil on this topic. I lack time, energy, and desire to educate you on the elementary basics of my chosen profession. Additionally, I owe you zero explanation. Further discussion will be counterproductive. Please drop it before I block you.
5. You: I have a joke about your choice of writing tools.
  Me: After years of scorn, I have lost my sense of humor about this topic. I can no longer tell if people, especially folks I don’t know, are serious or joking. Joke at your own risk.
Writing
1. You: Why do you waste your time writing fiction, when I’ll pay you for your next tech book?
  Me: I enjoy writing fiction. Why don’t you stop doing what you love in favor of things I’ll pay you for? Plus, when I write only nonfiction my writing speed drops precipitously. Switching between them keeps my mind relaxed and eager for work.
2. You: Why do you waste your time writing tech books, when I’ll pay you for your next novel?
  Me: I like having food, soap, and an address besides “Beneath an Unwatched I-94 Overpass, Wayne County, Michigan.” Should my novels take off and meet those needs, I’ll reconsider.
3. You: What are you writing after the books you’ve announced?
  Me: Whichever project looks most ripe when I’m ready to start.
4. You: Please tell me when you open your next book sponsorship/release a new novel/launch a tech book!
  Me: My feeble brain sabotages all of my efforts in this regard. That’s why I have mailing lists. Sign up, and I’ll mail you! On the fiction and nonfiction lists, you even get free stuff to read!Also: I love you too. But not in a creepy way. Okay, maybe it’s a little creepy, but only in that socially awkward middle-aged-guy-who-doesn’t-like-to-make-eye-contact way.
5. You: What’s your secret to writing so many books in a year?
  Me: The number of hours I spend at my desk, writing. That’s the entire secret. Also, you’re wrong.I can write tech books at about 500 words per hour, and fiction at about 1000 words per hour. If I split working full time evenly between the two, I should have ten novels (1 million words) and ten Mastery (or two Absolute) books per year (500,000 words). But let’s be generous, and say self-employment sucks up half of my time, what with paperwork and doing my own book layouts and such. I’m still slow and lazy.
6. You: Will you read something I wrote and tell me what you think?
  Me: Nope.
7. You: I have a great idea for a book! I’ll give you the idea, you can write the book, and we’ll split the money.
  Me: I have an even more awesome idea! Keep your idea, write your own book, and keep all the money. You don’t know how to write? That’s okay, I’ll help you there.
8. You: I have a great idea for a book, but asking you to write it would be unfair. Would you co-author with me?
  Me: Thanks, but no. I don’t play well with others, and I have all the work I can possibly handle right now. I tried this once. It turned into two books. They were excellent books, but very time-consuming.
9. You: Do you believe in ghosts?
  Me: No.
10. You: But you say elsewhere that you live in a haunted house!
  Me: I used to live in a haunted house, but moved out. Not because of the ghosts, but because of the living.
11. You: Will you write something about your haunted house?
  Me: I have. Figuring out which book or tale involves that house is your problem.
Publishing Business
1. You: You’re a writer? How do you really make money?
  Me: By writing books. I don’t consult. I don’t provide services. I don’t teach or offer seminars. I experimented with paid advertising in 2019-2020, but it was not cost-effective, so I stopped. I put words in a row, place those words in front of readers, and they give me money. That’s it. That is the only thing I do. And it pays my mortgage.
2. You: How do you make a living as a full time writer?
  Me: Read this post about my writing career, and the book I wrote about running a creative business. I blog about where my money comes from.
3. You: Why aren’t your books in Kindle Unlimited?
  Me: Because KU is an actively terrible business decision. I will not participate in that program as it is structured today.
4. You: Why are the new Mastery books not in Amazon’s Kindle bookstore?
  Me: New Mastery books are available for Kindle, just not from Amazon’s bookstore. The deal Amazon offers is unacceptable for short technology books.
5. You: What do you think of your nonfiction publisher, No Starch Press?
  Me: No Starch Press is the kind of publisher that existed before the big companies bought up the publishing industry. They’re small. They’re nimble. Every book receives the attention it needs to be successful. Any employee who lasts longer than 60 days is completely awesome. They are open to suggestions. Their contract is better than any other tech publisher contract I’ve ever seen, and their royalty rates are the best in the business (if you choose to receive high royalty rates, which you should–remember, advances are advances against expected royalties). They’re like a small brewery that’s been in existence for twenty years; they know their business and they still give a damn. If you want to write a technology book, I highly recommend them, even if you’ve never published a book before. And if you email me to ask “no, really, privately, just between us, what do you think?” I will refer you here. (Or just delete your email, because you’re obviously not listening to me.)
6. You: Why do you still use a publisher? Authors no longer need middlemen between them and their audience.
  Me: Different books need different support structures. I’m both self-published and traditionally published. I’ll use both again, depending on the book, the audience, and the business requirements. I actively seek win-win deals with publishers.
7. You: Should I self-publish or traditionally publish my book?
  Me: I can rant on this until the caffeine runs out, but let me simplify it.Do you want to be a writer? Or do you want to have published a book? If you want to write a book for professional reasons, such as establishing your credibility in your field, and you don’t expect to be churning out books regularly, use a trad publisher.
  
  If you’re going to be a pro writer and release books regularly, which should you use? I’m gonna paraphrase Blaze Ward here: Do you wanna be famous, or do you wanna be rich?
  
  A contract with a big publisher can get your name out there. Many publishers expect to contract for all rights to your work forever, and keep most of the money, but you might find that a worthwhile trade-off. Remember: you do not write books. You produce and license intellectual property. Until you understand that in your bones, you won’t make a living. Unless you win the publishing lottery that is, but that’s like getting hit by lightning, twice, on a dry cloudless winter day. On the Moon.
  
  Independent publishing requires understanding how the publishing business works. You need to learn the technology, and when to deploy it. You need an entrepreneurial spirit. I chose to self-publish my first two books, because the publishing industry is insane. They bombed. After a dozen trad-pubbed books I self-published again in 2011, when better tools were available. It worked… sort of. As an experienced author, I needed half a dozen self-pub books before I started getting it mostly right. Yes, it’s fairly easy to dump a book on Amazon, but that’s not publishing. That’s surrendering any hope of a long-term career in the hope of winning the hit-by-lightning-only-once lottery.
  
  Learning this stuff for a single book? And keeping up on it for the lifespan of your one book? You must update the format of your book, if not the content, every few years. Not worth it.
  
  Yes, today I leverage trad and indie publishing. Which I use for what project is entirely a cold, hard business decision. I make that decision based on the available tools for publishing that kind of book. You can’t print-on-demand an eight hundred page book in a nice binding… yet.
8. You: Will you teach me how to self-publish my book?Me: No. I spent years learning this complicated business, and it changes constantly. It’s like you asked me to teach you how to program in assembler via email, if the underlying hardware constantly shifted. People teach courses in this. Take several.
9. You: Will you publish my book?Me: No. Go hire someone who wants this work. Many people and companies will happily take your money and do an excellent job. I won’t recommend anyone, because this year’s grand expert is next year’s problem child.
Book Rights
1. You: I want to license one of your books.
  Me: Cool! You can buy a physical license by buying a print book, or a single-user electronic license by buying an ebook.
2. You: No, I mean at scale, for use in an application or film or some other transformation.
  Me: I am open to this discussion. (For those following along at home, writers do not sell books. We create and license intellectual property.) In general, my rates licensing nonfiction vary with your number of expected users and how broad a license you want. My rates for fiction licensing are pretty much industry standard.
3. You: When will one of your books be turned into a movie?
  Me: Either when someone buys and executes on the film rights, or when tech and my finances hit the point I decide to hire a bright film school posse to film git commit murder. I estimate 2025 or so on the tech, and forever on the financing.
Technology
1. You: I have a technology problem that you wrote a book about. Please help me.
  Me: I’m sorry, I cannot help everyone on the Internet. I can’t even help everyone who’s bought one of my books. You outnumber me tens of thousands to one. Please ask in a project-specific or operating-system-specific mailing list, user group, or forum.
2. You: Do your books have DRM?
  Me: No. Forget all the arguments about how DRM is effective or not. My readers have been voted Most Capable Of Stripping DRM for twenty-six years running. I have no choice but to trust them.Certain e-bookstores impose DRM on all of their titles. Thalia keeps coming up in this regard. For various annoying reasons, I can’t cut them off without also cutting off a bunch of DRM-free bookstores. I don’t want to punish folks who buy from those other stores just because a different store is behaving badly. Please buy from a DRM-free store.
3. You: You use WordPress to manage your sites? Why not pure HTML as $DEITY intended?
  Me: My web site was static HTML until about 2009. You can still see the old version, but FDA regulations require me to warn you that you might claw your eyes out.My long-term business strategy requires that I sell ebooks directly. So I need web site tools that lets me do that. That means a web framework. I chose the least appalling option.
4. You: Will you please call it GNU/Linux?
  Me: Nope.
5. You: Call it GNU/Linux or else!
  Me: Fine. Do you prefer Debian Else, or Slackware Else?
6. You: What is your opinion on X?
  Me: My opinions are my own. I publish those that I believe are both coherent and well thought out. I will not defend an opinion in email unless I have argued cogently for it elsewhere. And that argument will have to stand on its own. While I might publish a followup at some point, I will not defend my writing.Oh, you literally mean X? It’s fine, if you have OpenBSD’s cwm(1). Avoid KDE, Gnome, FVWM, or other bloated window managers.
7. You:What technology stack do you recommend?
  Me: What do I recommend? I recommend abandoning technology, moving to a colder climate that won’t be flooded as the oceans rise, and dedicating yourself to improving the soil as you learn to farm enough to feed yourselves and those you love. Or, if that’s not your style, stop wasting more electricity than many countries to perform useless computations for deflationary pseudomoney. I solidly recommend that.Software is terrible. Operating systems are worse. Some are worse than others.
  
  I tend to put databases on ZFS, because databases are even more terrible and I want automatic snapshots. But: jails or chroots? Pffft. Everything is terrible. Choose your doom. What will infuriate you the least?
Work and Money
1. You: Are you looking for work?
  Me: Nope.
2. You: Will you write something for me or my organization?
  Me: Nope.
3. You: Please help me me promote my cool new project.
  Me: My time is completely occupied doing things important to me. I have zero capacity for new projects.
4. You: Please help me promote my new commercial venture that competes with free software you’ve written about.
  Me: No.
5. You: Will you write for free?
  Me: Sure. Check out my blog, or my occasional bits for other sites such as undeadly.org. I even do a column for the FreeBSD Journal.
6. You: No, I mean, will you write for me for free?
  Me: No. I’m sorry, that’s weak. Hell, NO. Why would I write for anyone for free, when people are willing to pay me? If you think about asking anyway, go read my response letter and save me the trouble of deleting your mail.
7. You: I’ll pay in exposure!
  Me: People die of exposure.
8. You: I’ll pay in advertising space?
  Me: How about you pay me what you charge for that amount of advertising space?
9. You: Will you ghost-write/work for hire for my cool project?
  Me: No.
10. You: But I’ll pay you real cash to ghost/WFH on my cool project!
  Me: Not enough. Not nearly enough. As of 2022, you’d have to offer six figures for me to idly contemplate the idea before telling you no. I have more writing that I want to do than I have lifetime to write in, and writing your project would mean sacrificing something I want to work on.
11. You: But money!
  Me: If money was my goal, I’d be back as a full-time IT guy. I could more than triple my income and get my choice of work conditions.
12. You: But that’s not fair!
  Me: Fair is in July. I thoroughly reject the toxic idea that money is the most important thing in life. Or, if you prefer: I am a tradesman, not a capitalist.
Meatspace
1. You: What do you look like?
  Me: This. For the record, that is my happy face.
2. You: Are you available to speak about our event?
  Me: Maybe. It must be an event that interests me, meaning something in literature or open source technology. See my travel and conference policy for details.
3. You: Gelato?
  Me: Yes, please!
Want to know something else? Ask me on my Fediverse fediverse/Mastodon account, @mwl@io.mwl.io.